A professional dilemma: nurses participation in legal executions

The participation of nurses in legal executions is a
dilemma for the profession and a Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic
believes we shouldn't shy away from debating the issue.

Professor Linda Shields from CSU's Faculty of
Science, is internationally recognised for her research on the history of
nursing ethics.

She's the lead author of an opinion paper 'Nurse participation in legal executions:
An ethics round-table discussion' published
in Nursing Ethics.

"This paper brings together the views of 12 senior nurses from Australia,
the United States and United Kingdom discussing the ethics of nurses being part of
the process of executing a person condemned to die," Professor Shields said.

"Our intention is to
highlight to the nursing world that this is occurring, to show a range of
opinions and stances and to initiate discussion, argument and analysis of the
topic."

Professor Shields
said in the United States nurses are involved in
executions by inserting intravenous lines so doctors can give the lethal
injections.

"The International Council of
Nurses, Australian College of Nursing and other nursing organisations around
the world, including in the USA say very strongly that this is very wrong,"
Professor Shields said.

"An American nurse
interviewed about why she participated in this way said it was no different to
giving palliative care to people who were dying from natural causes, and that
if she didn't do it then someone unqualified may have to do it and the
condemned person might suffer.

"Amongst the
nurses contributing to our paper there's divergence of opinions, with some
saying that all people, regardless of circumstance, should be given the best
care possible at the end of their lives.

"Others said that
such rationales were the same used by nurses who actively killed their patients
in the Nazi 'euthanasia' programs.

"An interesting
perspective is that most of the authors live in countries where capital
punishment is not legal; however, some seemed to agree that the nurse must give
end-of-life care to the condemned prisoner.

"Many of those who
expressed the opposite, that nurses should never be involved in executions,
lived in countries where capital punishment was legal.

"While this very
small sample, and the opinions expressed are certainly not representative of
all nurses, perhaps it is time to do some research around this question and
examine what might influence a nurse to participate or not in executions."

Professor
Linda Shields is in the CSU Faculty of Science in Bathurst. She is available
for interview. Contact CSU Media.

Professor Shields is
co-editor of Nurses and Midwives in Nazi Germany
The "Euthanasia Programs" is
published by Routledge Studies in Modern European History and is also
featured in the documentary CARING CORRUPTED -
The Killing Nurses of The Third Reich produced by The University of Texas Health
Science Center in the USA.